


Shut Up and Dance

by oywiththepeetaalready



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 04:43:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3797143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oywiththepeetaalready/pseuds/oywiththepeetaalready
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a newly single Peeta goes to drown his sorrows at a bar, a headstrong brunette he's never seen before convinces him that happiness won't be found at the bottom of his glass but rather on the dance floor with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shut Up and Dance

**Author's Note:**

> Recommended listening: Shut Up and Dance - Walk the Moon, Muevelo - Sofia Reyes and Cool - Alesso ft. Roy English
> 
> All of the thanks to sohypothetically for putting up with me and helping me make it a hell of a lot better than I ever could on my own.

He is nursing his third drink of the night.

Or fourth.

Hell, it could be his seventeenth and he wouldn’t frigging know. The alcohol hasn’t been doing its job, and it’s really starting to piss him off. He slams his now-empty glass on the table with more force than necessary and glares at it. _If this bar is watering down their drinks, I swear…_

Isn’t this why people go lose themselves in a bar? To forget? To live a little bit? To do all of the above?

And yet, here he sits, fully lucid and unfortunately all too aware that less than five hours earlier, he had caught his then-girlfriend literally on top of someone else. His only solace is that it wasn’t someone he knew. _That would have been a real kicker: Finding her with my brother or best friend. Isn’t that how it goes in the movies?_

He flags down a waiter and orders another drink. _Well, if my brother is gonna disappear on me, I think it’s only right I run up his tab on my quest to figure out if I’m now immune to alcohol._ He takes a huge gulp within seconds of receiving the full tumbler, savoring the burn as it goes down his throat but shaking his head in disappointment as it fails to fuzz-over his mind at all.

_I wonder what that guy’s personality is like. Does she even know? Is she just using him for sex?_ Peeta pauses his train of thought and takes a drink of his rum and coke, swirling the glass thoughtfully. _But we were having sex….not award-winning sex...but sex._

Peeta’s brother slides into the seat next to him, drink in one hand and his other wrapped around a girl Peeta knows he’s never seen before.

“Stop thinking about her, man,” Ryan says, slurring his words slightly. “I mean I know you can’t forget about her right away, but you’ve gotta not dwell on it...it’s gonna screw you up.”

Peeta drinks and looks at his brother. “You’re hammered.”

“Am not. Am I, Glimmer?” His voice is defiant.

_Glimmer? Oh, Rye. Oh no. Not another one._

The blonde girl smiles and shakes her head. “Oddly sober for how much I’ve seen him drink.”

“Speaking of!” His brother raises his empty glass in triumph and pulls the girl back towards the bar, apparently determined to become even more inebriated. _And he’s off…thank God we came separately tonight._ Peeta rolls his eyes and lets his gaze wander over to the crowd of dancing people. Among the terrifying number of couples grinding on one another, he notices a small group of women dancing together. 

As he watches, he notices one of the few single, lecherous males - _huh, guess I’m one of those now too_ \- stalk towards the group. He slides behind one of the girls, a petite brunette wearing easily one of the least revealing outfits in the entire place, and cages her in his arms. _Oh come on man. Don’t be that guy._ The woman scowls and almost as if by magic, a blonde girl appears, grabs the brunette by the hand and pulls her into a twirl that distances her from the guy. The two ladies laugh as they move, clearly ignoring the man. He shakes his head and Peeta can all but imagine the steam coming out of his ears as he pushes through the crowd, shoulders slumped. The two women continue to dance, facing each other and completely losing themselves in the music. 

_This might be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen._

They exude confidence and happiness, all carefree in their movements and laughter as the pulsing music rushes over them. The two females contrast completely in looks, with the brunette wearing skinny jeans and a fiery red-orange sleeveless top and her blonde friend in a skimpy blue dress and sky-high heels. The artist in him itches to capture the bright lights and pulsing beat in the two girls singing and moving like the music is the entire reason they have been put on this earth. _Dammit. This is why I should have studied photography instead of painting._

The brunette catches his eye and Peeta doesn’t even have time to look abashed, but has a fleeting thought where he hopes he doesn’t look like a creep. He feels his ears getting hot but his fears dissolve as she flashes a small grin his way. She breaks eye contact to chat with the blonde for a moment, both of them ceasing their movements for the first time in close to half an hour. He sees the other girl nod and shoot a smile at the brunette as she turns back to Peeta. She crooks a finger at him, pointing to herself and the dance floor. 

He knows he must have a look of shock on his face, but he reluctantly recovers enough to shake his head and shrug sheepishly. _I don’t dance._ Apparently the brunette doesn’t accept that answer because she smiles one more time at the other girl and moves off the dance floor towards where Peeta sits. She leans against the table and stands just close enough to him so that he can hear her voice.

“You don’t dance?”

“Can’t, more like.”

“You need to dance.”

Peeta cocks his head in question. _Who the hell is this girl?_ “Why?”

“You look bummed. Dancing helps that. Endorphins and all that shit,” she says with a nod.

“You’re awfully confident.” 

She waves a hand dismissively. “Confident-shmonfident. Let me guess. Crappy break up.”

“Mmhmm…” he trails off, staring curiously at her.

“Same here. C’mon. Dance with me.”

“I told you I can’t. Besides, I don’t even know your name.”

“You have to know someone’s name to dance with them? I didn’t know the girl I was dancing with for, what, twenty minutes?”

Peeta’s jaw drops. “You didn’t know that girl? I saw her come to your rescue literally within seconds.”

“Girl code,” she responds with a shrug. “We watch out for each other. Survival of the fittest, baby. And in clubs, the fittest always have a buddy. So...Dance?”

“I take it back. You’re not confident. You’re determined as hell.”

“Shut up and dance with me.”

Peeta puts down his drink and observes the woman in front of him. “Tell me your name.”

“Katniss. Now come on.” He remains seated until she reaches out, grabs his hand and pulls him to his feet. “And yes, I am determined. I am stubborn as hell and it’s probably best if you just go with this.”

His laughing protests are ignored as she leads him to the dance floor. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I can’t dance,” he shouts over the music.

Her laugh drifts back to him. She turns to face him as they arrive on the outskirts of the crowd. “I’ll teach you.” Peeta raises an eyebrow skeptically as she puts her hands on his hips. “I promise it’s not as hard as you seem to think it is. Listen to the beat.” She helps him sway his hips along with hers, matching their bodies up and syncing their movements.

Peeta’s eyes focus on where they occasionally collide and swallows hard. Somehow, this girl has a hold on him. Whether it’s due to her obvious joy earlier or her steely determination, he gives in. _Or maybe because everyone else here is so hammered they wouldn’t notice if I wiped out._ As he expects, Katniss has a natural rhythm, so much so that he doesn’t even feel quite as uncoordinated as he has during other fumbling attempts at dancing, if it could be called that. His eyes dart to hers and she grins. “Not so terrible, huh?”

Peeta shakes his head and finds himself staring at her lips as she talks. “I’m pretty sure I’m holding you back, though.”

Katniss leans in closer to avoid shouting. “I don’t know. I think we work pretty well as a team, don’t you?”

His eyes scan up and down her body, still confused as to why this graceful girl has chosen to dance with him, the proud owner of two left feet. “Can’t completely disagree. You’re a better teacher than I am a student, though.”

“Okay, lesson two, then,” she says. She spins in his arms, leaving his hands on her hips but turning with her back to his front. She leans into his chest and sways her hips in a way that makes Peeta take a deep, shuddering breath. _You are in public. You don’t know this girl’s last name. She doesn’t even know your first name. You have been single for all of seven hours and she said she just broke up with someone too. There are three hundred reasons not to go for her._ He moves his legs slightly to distance himself from her movements and attempts to think of wildly unsexy things. _Grandparents, The Old Man and the Sea, Jenga..._

His extra distance does less than no good as she leans back against him and closes the gap. “I think you were lying about how bad you are.”

“Turns out dancing is infinitely easier than I remembered. Have a pretty girl in front of you and move to the beat she sets.” He shrugs. “Kinda hard to fuck that up.” 

“You’d be shocked,” she says with a laugh. The song changes to something quicker, all Latin influence and pulsing beats. He hears Katniss’ voice drift back to him as she sings along with the song, her Spanish accent flawless. _“Put your hands on your hips, baby. Muevelo. La vida es una ven aquí, mueve, muevelo…”_

As if obeying her commands, Peeta lets his hands drift to Katniss’ hips. He’s able to find the rhythm on his own and proceeds to actually guide her movements for the first time since they’ve reached the floor. _Maybe I am drunk. Maybe I can only dance when I’m drunk._

Peeta finally decides to use their to his advantage, grinding himself lightly against her and finally understanding why she had been so determined to bring him onto the floor. He can all but feel endorphins rushing through his bloodstream in time to the music and he is suddenly glad he listened to the determined girl.

She turns in his arms once again to face him and Peeta grins at her narrowed eyes and raised eyebrows. “Problems, Miss Dancer?”

“Seriously. You lied to me, didn’t you?” Her eyes seem brighter as she asks the question, suspicion and amusement in her expression. 

“About what? Dancing?”

“Were you that determined to not dance with me?”

Peeta shakes his head. “I swear to you this is the first time I’ve danced that I haven’t made an utter ass out of myself. Most other times I needed alcohol to convince me I should even consider the possibility in the first place.” He moves to whisper into her ear. “I told you that you were a good teacher.”

She smiles softly but doesn’t question any more and just keeps moving to the beat. Katniss closes her eyes and leans her head back slightly, letting the light catch the slight sheen of sweat on her skin. Peeta swallows hard and lets his eyes trace the neckline of her top and then back up to her face.

“You’re right,” he says. “Dancing does help.”

Katniss laughs and opens her eyes. “Of course I’m right.” She throws him a wink that causes him to lose the beat momentarily and stumble. “I’m always right.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, when it comes to dancing.”

“And singing?”

Katniss tenses momentarily before meeting his gaze. “That isn’t exactly my expertise.”

“Could’ve fooled me. Your voice was pretty much made for that song a few minutes ago.” His thumbs trace small circles on the exposed skin above her jeans and he can feel her shiver despite the heat in the room. “Seriously. The Spanish song? Incredible.”

Even in the shitty club lighting, Peeta notes her flushed skin with a sense of pride.

“Well it helps that my father was Hispanic. Not difficult to pronounce everything when you grow up hearing it.”

Peeta notes the past tense but refuses to ruin the moment. If she had been able to pull him out of his funk, he isn’t going to push her into one of her own. “No wonder you sounded so sexy when you were speaking Spanish then. Your accent was gorgeous.”

“Bien, gracias por el cumplido, mi querido,” she replies to him, the words tripping off her tongue. 

He squeezes his eyes closed and has to bite back a small groan. This girl may have more of an effect on him than he had realized. “Okay, you’re not allowed to do that anymore.”

“¿No te gusta?” Her blush has gone away completely and has been replaced with a smirk. Peeta thanks his lucky stars that he remembers a rudimentary amount of Spanish from his college classes and leans into her.

“I quite enjoy it, actually, but that’s totally not fair.”

Katniss relents and reverts back to English, responding with an innocent, almost doe-eyed stare. “Not fair? Whatever do you mean?”

“Gorgeous girl, sexy dance skills and a Romance language...the combo is just too much. Not even remotely fair. You have three up on me, here.”

She turns in his arms to face away from him and laughs. “And to think you didn’t even want to come out and dance with me.”

“Thank God you were stubborn.”

“Determined.”

“Right. Determined. My apologies.” He smiles down at her and she leans into him as the song changes to a slower, bass-heavy tune and he wraps his arms around her.

_You said it’s all yours if you take it there._  
_I said I can’t do it alone, I swear._  
_You said it’s all yours, it’s all yours_  
_when you smile...  
_ _It’s only you, who loves me like you do…._

“So, we’ve been out here for quite a while. I think I’m allowed to ask what happened to make you furious enough to where a gallon of rum and cokes aren’t sufficiently mind-numbing.” 

“Girlfriend cheated on me. Caught her in the act,” he glances at his watch, “roughly eight or so hours ago.”

“Yikes. So your issue is definitely more recent than mine. My boyfriend and I broke up about a month ago. No cheating but pretty rough. Turned out I was only with him ‘cause I was comfortable with the relationship. Loving someone and being in love with someone is apparently not the same thing.”

Peeta nods. “I get that. Thank God I didn’t love this last girl. I’d be screwed. Or more so than she had been earlier.”

“Well played,” she answers with a laugh. “So, Mr. I-Don’t-Dance, what was your goal here tonight? Go home with a girl? Drink to forget? Blow off steam? Punch someone?”

“Blow off steam, mostly. I’m okay not forgetting; that means I will remember to not take her back if she tries to come back. Wasn’t really looking to go home with anyone...been the rebound a time or two and know it’s never fun to be on the other end of that one.”

Katniss looks at him, seemingly sizing him up. “Wanna go get some air? It’s boiling in here.” At Peeta’s nod, she takes his hand again. When they get outside, they sit at a bus stop bench and she turns to him. “Can I be honest about something?”

“Of course. I figured that’s what we’ve been doing all night.”

“I like you. I don’t know your name, but you’re funny, you keep up with me, and even though you didn’t let me walk all over you to come dance, you seemed more than happy to join me once I wore you down.” 

As Peeta takes in everything Katniss has just said, the only thing he can come up with as a response is, “Peeta. My name is Peeta.”

“Okay, Peeta. Sorry if that’s too out of the blue for you, and I totally respect what you said. I just didn’t want this to have to tell a story to my friends about one that got away because I was too chicken-shit.”

“No, no,” he says, waving his hands slightly. “I’m not...not responding because I’m not interested. I am just surprised. I figured this whole thing was out of pity.”

“I don’t do pity,” Katniss says matter-of-factly.

“Thank God for that,” Peeta mutters. _Should have known that from the beginning, really._

“For some reason, I just noticed you. You looked bummed and dancing usually helps that.”

Peeta grins. “I’ll say. I went from breaking up with a cheating ex to dancing with a gorgeous girl at a club. I’ll gladly take that change. And, to be totally honest, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested. I almost kissed you about six times while we were dancing.”

“I wouldn’t have stopped you.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” he says with a shy smile. He stops to consider the situation and takes a deep breath. “Okay, I’ve had more fun tonight than I have the past three or four months I was with my ex. If you’ll give me just a little time to work through all the shit in my head from that trainwreck of a relationship, I’d love to go out with you if the offer is still on the table.”

Katniss laughs. “Believe me, I don’t exactly do this with a ton of people. I think I can handle waiting a few weeks before going on a date.” Peeta hands his phone over to her with a blank contact page open and she fills in her info and returns it with a flourish. She pulls her own out of her pocket to check after Peeta sends her a text and grins.

“If you don’t hear from me by next weekend, call me, okay? If I don’t contact you, it’s just because real life crap happened and time got away from me. Not because I don’t wanna go out with you.”

She nods and Peeta swallows quickly. _No, you know what? Fuck it._ He takes a chance, leaning in to her and kissing her quickly. When he goes to pull away, one of her hands finds the back of his neck, keeping him there and drawing the kiss out. She nips at his bottom lip lightly and he traces hers with his tongue as the kiss becomes a bit more playful. Eventually, they pull back with a desperate need to catch their breath. _If this is what being with this girl can make me do, there’s no way in hell I’m gonna wait until the weekend to call her._

Katniss smiles at him and says, “After a kiss like that, you better call me.”

“Don’t worry, mi querida. I will.”

“You know what that means?” Katniss says, looking baffled and drawing a satisfied smirk out of Peeta.

“I was a college guy in Spanish 1010. I learned anything that might sound attractive to women. The rest of it, I attempted to figure out in context.”

She slaps his arm lightly and laughs, the carefree attitude he had seen while she was dancing coming out again. “Well played, I suppose. I can always teach you some. Español es una lengua tan hermosa.” Peeta cuts her off with a short kiss. “Wow, you weren’t kidding about liking the Romance languages, were you?”

Peeta shakes his head. “What can I say, when a girl as gorgeous as you starts speaking a foreign language, well...it’s pretty hot.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she says. At that moment, a bus pulls up and Katniss glances on it. “Oh, this will actually take me home. I’m only four stops away.”

“You sure? I know this part of town is alright, but I don’t know…” Peeta trails off, unsure if his hesitation is more for the safety of this girl or his unwillingness to see her go.

Katniss smiles and gives him one last kiss. “Promise. As long as you’ll call a cab or something. There’s no way you can drive right now. I can text you when I get home." 

“Alright, deal. Talk to you soon, Katniss.”

She nods and gets on the bus, turning and waving as soon as she gets to a seat. Peeta watches as the bus drives away and then pulls out his phone to get an Uber for his ride home. After he gets confirmation that a car is on its way, he glances at the contact info Katniss had left for him.

_What the hell is wrong with you? You know full well that you were over that relationship when you walked out of that apartment earlier today._

His thumb hovers over the green call button and he puts the phone down on the bench, leaning back and groaning out loud.

_An hour ago I wasn’t even remotely drunk, haven’t had a drink since then and somehow...I ended up dancing with a stranger. A beautiful, stubborn stranger. Who was more effective than the alcohol._

He grabs his phone again and looks at the screen, knowing full well why it is he doesn’t feel like he just went through a breakup.

_Oh fuck it._  

He touches the screen, screws his eyes shut, holds the phone to his ear and listens to it ring.

“Hello? Peeta? Is everything alright?” Her voice sounds slightly panicked.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. Um. I don’t want to wait till next weekend.”

Peeta swears he can almost hear the smile through the phone. “So what’s your plan?”

Peeta pauses. “How about dancing?”

  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm oywiththepeetaalready on tumblr too - feel free to come say hey or let me know what you think!


End file.
